A storage device (e.g., a hard drive) may be a peripheral unit (e.g., disk, tape and/or flash memory card) that holds data. The storage device (e.g., the hard drive) may have a storage mechanism and a carrier (e.g., a hard drive carrier) which encases the storage mechanism. The storage mechanism may include a platter, a head arm, a head actuator, and/or several other components. The head actuator may be used to operate the head arm which may be used to read/write the data on the platter. One or more of the storage device may be mounted together on a rack (e.g., single rack and/or multiple racks) to form an array.
The platter, driven by a motor, may rotate on a spindle (e.g., an axis on which the platter spins) at several thousand revolutions per minute (rpm). Rotation of the platter may generate a heat in the storage mechanism which may corrupt data stored in the storage device. In addition, the heat may damage the storage mechanism itself and other components in the storage device.
The heat in the storage device may be dissipated (e.g., cooled) using an internal fan which generates an airflow. The airflow may be directed between the storage device and another storage device adjacently held by a plane (e.g., midplane, backplane, etc.) on a rack of the array. The plane may provide electrical routings between the storage device and another storage device, and the plane may also include one or more cavities (e.g., cutouts) on a middle of the plane to provide an exit space for the airflow. The cavities on the plane may increase a pitch (e.g., a minimal distance between storage devices mounted on the rack), thereby decreasing a density of the storage devices mounted on the rack.
In addition, the cavities on the plane may lead to have long routes for electronic signals (e.g., so as to go around the cavities on the plane). Moreover, the airflow between the storage devices may cause a bad acoustic performance in each of the storage devices. (e.g., by creating a white noise, etc.). This may downgrade a quality of the data being stored in the storage device and make an operation of the array noisier.